The West Must Act Now or Rue the Day

Updated Aug. 29, 2006 12:01 a.m. ET

Shelby Steele's assessment of the Middle East is right on the money until he veers off track with his views on "Western guilt" ("Life and Death," editorial page, Aug. 22). The stigma of the West's colonial past that he speaks of is not a reflection of guilt -- it's pure politics. The reality is that the West's colonial past has little, if any, currency left to instill Westerners with feelings of "guilt" except for academics and their minions who've been promoting this mantra for years.